152 



his mind. From this source arose that propensity, which 

 appears in all his writings, of investigating final causes, and 

 tracing the wisdom of the Supreme Author of Nature." He 

 had the honour to be highly esteemed by the celebrated 

 Mrs. Montagu. 



The European Magazine of Nov. 1790, which gives an 

 engraved portrait of him, being a copy of the above, thus 

 speaks : " He was one of the very first who to great legal 

 knowledge, added a considerable share of polite literature. 

 He arrived at the highest rank to which a lawyer could at' 

 tain in his own country ; and he has left to the world such 

 literary productions, as will authorize his friends to place 

 him, if not in the highest, yet much above the lowest, class 

 of elegant and polite writers. He died in 1783, leaving to 

 the world a proof, that an attention to the abstrusest 

 branches of learning, is not incompatible with the more 

 pleasing pursuits of taste and polite literature." He was 

 kind-hearted and humane. His pure taste in landscape 

 scenery, is acknowledged by Mr. Loudon, in p. 81 of the 

 Encyclopaedia of Gardening. Blair Drummond will long be 

 celebrated as having been his residence, and he there dis- 

 played his superior taste in planting and improving. 



In his " Elements of Criticism," (a truly original work) 

 there is a distinct chapter on architecture and gardening. 

 He therein thus addresses the reader: — " These cursory 

 observations upon gardening, shall be closed with some re- 

 flections that must touch every reader. Rough uncultivated 

 ground, dismal to the eye, inspires peevishness and discon- 

 tent : may not this be one cause of the harsh manners of 

 savages ? A field richly ornamented, containing beautiful 

 objects of various kinds, displays in full lustre the goodness 

 of the Deity, and the ample provision he has made for our 

 happiness. Ought not the spectator to be filled with grati- 



